9 steps to do an emotional detox and get rid of anguish

The word that best translates the current times is perhaps this: exhaustion🇧🇷 Being in life is not an easy mission, it requires open channels to learn, teach, produce, interact with others and with the environment. As these demands only grow, we have to do our best in an attempt to respond to all of them, with our attention migrating from focus all the time. At the end of a typical day – with little money, problems in traffic and at work, in relationships with the children and with the partner –, the feeling is that of having sheltered doses of anxiety, impotence and frustration far greater than we can manage.

“Stress is no longer normal and advances, reducing the ability to exercise empathy. Because we do not see situations clearly, we feel wronged”, says Armando Ribeiro, neuropsychologist, specialist in stress at Harvard University. These accumulated feelings intoxicate. They produce what we call butterflies in the stomach, a lump in the throat, tightness in the chest, a heavy head, in addition to discouragementwhich saps the energy to start the routine the next morning.

It is not an exaggeration to compare the damage caused by poisoned feelings to the damage caused to health by a diet full of sugars, carbohydrates and fats. The analogy can also be used in the detox🇧🇷 just like we need cut the inappropriate menu to clean the organism, we must reset our behavior, removing negative emotions. “It is possible to unload them, creating new sentimental habits”, says São Paulo psychologist Mônica Reis de Oliveira. Experts point out emergency measures and others that will ensure the prevention of emotional toxin.

Read too: Anxiety is a disease: know how it acts and how to treat it

1. Unclog your energy

São Paulo acupuncturist and physiotherapist Beatriz Nishimura suggests tapping three key points to reduce fear, agitation and anxiety. One of them is between the nipples, over the sternum. The second, on top of the head, in the middle of the line between one ear and the other. “Press and massage, one at a time, using circular, clockwise motions,” she explains. With a hot water bottle, she stimulates the third point, in the center of the back, at the level of the T3 and T4 vertebrae. To prevent the toxicity of feelings, needles can be placed at various points during acupuncture sessions.

2. Reduce digital life

According to a study by the University of Pittsburgh, in the United States, published in March, accessing Facebook and Snapchat for more than two hours a day doubles the risk of social isolation. Add to the evidence what you see in practice: friends breaking up due to disagreements, couples fighting over jealousy of likes.

“Social networks enhance competitiveness and human emotions”, explains Ribeiro. But one should not demonize them, warns psychoanalyst Fani Hisgail, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in São Paulo. “They brought advances, allow for important interactions.” To use without risk of overdose:

• Don’t take networking too seriously. “What people say about themselves there is always fictional,” says Hisgail.

• “Don’t look for them as a refuge or an antidote to frustration or to fill a void”, recommends Sylvia Van Enck, psychologist at the Technological Addictions program at the Institute of Psychiatry at Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo (IPq-HC).

• Trace goals for the coming months, such as establishing a plan for personal evolution or uplifting work.

3. Neutralize the News

“The alarming reality, even if it is far away, increases the perception of threat, which generates greater secretion of cortisol and adrenaline, stress hormones”, says Ribeiro. All the time linked to the news leads to panic. For Hisgail, terrorist attacks and the Brazilian crisis lead us to a feeling of helplessness. But this can be avoided:

• Find out from good sources; avoid the sensational ones, which only amplify the malaise.

• Decrease distress by engaging in a social cause. “Belonging to a group that shares the same purposes brings emotional comfort”, explains Josi Conti, editor of the website Psicologiasdobrasil.com.br.

4. End of negative relationship

If your partner inhibits your actions and impedes your growth, try to end the story. But if you are the one moved by jealousy, take care: this is not love; it’s about obsession, insecurity, low self-esteem. For detoxification, neuropsychologist Andrea Lorena Stravogiannis, a collaborator at IPq-HC, suggests: “Stop thinking that you are not good enough for him and believe that you can fight against the model of love you have learned”. Loving, she remembers, is different from needing someone. When you feel safe, look for a new pair.

5. Don’t be influenced

We tend to assimilate negative behaviors from those around us. Says Conti: “This triggers a cycle of destructive repetitions, which we have a hard time breaking out of.” The good mood can change throughout the day, due to the contamination of complaints from colleagues, for example. Ways to not internalize the influence:

• Turn off the autopilot that makes you repeat: “I can’t, it won’t work”. Chemical reactions are affected by stimuli sent to the brain. What we say improves or worsens the mood.

• Smile. The brain identifies facial expressions as real. “Acting as if we are in a certain emotional state increases the strength of that emotion. Showing calm, even if you don’t have it, reduces agitation”, says psychiatrist Daniel de Barros, from IPq-HC.

Read too: 11 types of alternative therapies to relieve pain and stress

6. Study more

“It is possible to appease the intoxication of emotions by studying”, guarantees Eliane Greice Nogueira, professor of pedagogy at the State University of Mato Grosso do Sul. Learning needs to be meaningful. “Return to the link with an unfinished course that gave joy (singing, languages) and invest in discovering new skills.”

7. Know what to eat

“A good menu (fruits, vegetables, whole and non-processed foods) helps with the detox”, says Ribeiro. Allies are coffee (caffeine blocks the action of adenosine, the substance that causes stress reactions), chocolate with 70% cocoa (reduces levels of stress hormones) and green tea (theanine amino acid, from tea, it elevates the brain-lettuce waves, producing relaxation; associated with serotonin, it helps in mood).

8. Get moving

“Physical exercises improve the activity of the central nervous system, raise self-esteem and reduce depressive symptoms”, says personal trainer Cau Saad, from São Paulo.

9. Inhale and exhale

“Breathing is the link between the conscious and the unconscious and can be used against anxiety, sadness or anger”, says Marcia de Luca, columnist for CLAUDIA. It anchors thoughts in the present. In a comfortable position, she takes a deep breath, brings her attention to her body and observes the sensations. If any distraction or tension comes up, let it go. Face the inlet and outlet of the air. Keep your attention on the body.

HELP YOURSELF

The list is by Fátima Macedo, director of MentalClean, an emotional health consultancy in São Paulo:

1 Do psychotherapy, coaching and read a lot to get to know yourself.

two At work, stretch, take breaks. Don’t put pleasures aside, pressured by goals to meet. Fax your own charges.

3 Create an emotional first aid box. Take away the good memories lived. They will help not to carry negative emotions further.

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